shadesofblades

[shadesofblades]

Shine bright now, let us shine brighter Shine bright now, love only guides us ...And if I only could I'd make a deal with God And I'd get him to swap our places

#sobbing into my hands #this is so beautiful tho #others #gore

[shadesofblades]

17. What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise? (For any and all - as a putter-of-OCs-thru-it I'm always curious to see how others go about backstory)

I’m evil and could talk about a bunch of things but I’ll just cover Aoki since he has the most pain.

CW: human trafficking

The worst thing I put him through… that truly is difficult to pin point since he’s been through so much. I would say when he was taken away by pirates and forced into servitude for a time. Sure, he’s been exiled and betrayed and broken, but that was probably the worst point in his life all around. Mostly because he was happy before then.

During that time, Aoki was living peacefully with a Xaela tribe (the Hotgo) that saved his life and took him in. He was genuinely happy there, learning the culture and traveling with them as they moved around. But one day, he got too ambitious and wished to take something of value for the Xaela man who cared for him. However, he did not expect to be caught taking said valuable, and he never imagined that he would get trafficked. He was never able to return to the tribe before they were massacred. He regrets his actions during that time very often and takes time to pray for their souls from time to time still.

thank you @upatreewithoutaharness !

#the black and blue// aoki usa #tw: human trafficking #ask #upatreewithoutaharness

[shadesofblades]

Dawn of a new year, 2024.

#the black and blue// aoki usa

[shadesofblades]

FFXIV Tips for Collecting All The Yokai Watch Weapons

First, the big five:

SORT YOUR INVENTORY BEFORE YOU START FATE GRINDING! You're gonna get a lot of useless enemy drops, so sort your items so you can easily find and sell them.

Spend your seals! Little by little, you're going to amass a lot of seals. Spend them on something! Buy a ton of Ventures. Or Material Containers: Even if you get a minion you already have, you can give them to friends.

Party up! Get friends; Invite complete strangers who are doing the FATES at the same time as you; Set up a Party Finder; If someone invites you to a party, ACCEPT! Just note: Even with a party, you need to get a sliver of enmity to get credit for the FATE.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GET GOLD MEDAL ON THE FATE TO GET A LEGENDARY MEDAL! I've gotten so many on bronze and silver ratings.

TAKE YOUR TIME! It sounds like the event is lasting until the preparation of 7.0. You don't have to get all 17 weapons in one day. Maybe do 1-2 a day. For the sake of your sanity.

MORE STUFF BELOW

-Best classes: Blue Mage (you probably see why already), Tanks (enmity grants FATE credit), healers (same as Tank, but you can also heal party members)

-Recommended Blue Mage Abilities: Any ARR Primal Spells (instant damage, securing FATE credit), any AoE spells (cooldown or otherwise, just to get some AoE damage), Goblin Punch (instant attack, giving you sneaky FATE credit), Missile (see next tip)

-Missile is a Blue Mage spell that can reduce the HP of certain enemies by 50%, including SOME (some might be immune) FATE bosses. This is extremely handy and speeds up FATEs, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WAIT A SECOND! Let people do SOME DAMAGE before you rip them a new one!

-Bring healing. You never know. Healing abilities/spells, healing items, support chocobo, healing party member.

-Take note: If you have a map preference, you can just stay there and cycle between the different minions who grant you Legendary Medals there. (ie: I stayed at Western La Noscea and grinded Komasan, Komajiro, and Hovernyan back to back)

-BEST GRIND LOCATIONS:

Western La Noscea: Great teleport options, FATEs spawn RAPIDLY

Central Shroud: Crystal is in the center of the map, allows for easy teleport and travel

South Shroud: Frequent FATEs, two great teleport options

North Shroud: Same as Central Shroud

East Shroud and Middle La Noscea: Not great, but they'll be the easiest to travel for Shogunyan and USApyon

Azim Steppe: Great teleport options for Enma and Demona grinding

Dravanian Forelands: Best for Lord Anata and Zazel, cause every other HW map location is massive and a nightmare.

HAPPY GRINDING!

#ooc #ive never done this event before so I’m excited tbh

[shadesofblades]

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

(Sorry for the extremely late reply, I'm trying to figure out how to go through my inbox after so long lol)

I want to talk about Baatu as he was my first character in ffxiv. (We don't talk about the first time back when the game first released and I could only go up to level 30 or something in the trial...) Long post with some pics!

Honestly, when I first made Baatu, I didn't think about his backstory or lore at ALL since I was just playing the game with friends. It just so happened that I began to love him, and as someone who has a million OCs, I just had to give him more.

This was his original look when I first made him, clearly not much has changed in vanilla:

I always imagined him bigger than the in game model, and even earlier on would draw him as such- including his scars and blinded eye:

When I first made Baatu, I didn't initially think he was mixed race. Of course, that was probably always in the back of my mind since I designed him with such particular features that correlate with Elezen. When I got to Heavensward, I had an epiphany and realized he was half Ishgardian. It was then that I thought I need to give him new features that represent his Elezen blood.

So I designed him to look a little different from his in game model, but still similar enough that he looks the same in vanilla! This was one of my first edits of him after I fanta'd him at the beginning of Heavensward. His skin tone changed a bit and his hair changed, but that's pretty much it. I edited in his Elezen ears with scales! I also blacked out his blind eye and added his scars.

Pretty much since, he has had the same look. He is very muscular and stocky, covered in scars both small and large, has a unique set of Elezen ears along with his Au Ri horns, and some other features!

I really love how he looks now and he will likely not change in appearance for the foreseeable future!

Thank you @avaritia-ffxiv ! <3

#I’ve been thinking about Baatu and I love him so much #Really love how he’s grown

[shadesofblades]

so cool and mysterious then his eyes ruin everything 🥺

#others #i love this sm

[shadesofblades]

vierapril day 26: style (by @/SE_bunboi)

𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟.

from left to right! Callahan, he/him, ~200 years old (apollo's grandson) Apollo, he/him, 270+ y/o Monarch, he/they, 170+ y/o @humblemooncat Idunn, he/him, 300+ y/o @sae-mian Siege, he/him, 200+ y/o @midnightmagicks

take these old men as recompense for me slacking on crossposting my vierapril stuff

#DILFS #others #siege #midnightmagicks #sae-mian #humblemooncat #abstinencesupreme

[shadesofblades]

#the moonlit shield// baatu ardakium

[shadesofblades]

『CRYSTALLINE/STYLE』

⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆

[VIERAPRIL2024]

[↓ BONUS SHOT ↓]

#hello they are so pretty 🥺🙏❤️ #others #nira #sae-mian

[shadesofblades]

(hey yall! it's been a hot minute since i did this, but i wanted to try to do another "draw your mutuals in your style" thing. I did two when i first started this blog, but now that i've met a lot more people and made a lot more mutuals here, i have been intimidated by the idea of doing it again.

but im gonna! so if you're a mutual, send me which character of yours you'd like to see in my art style! I will probably be limiting it to 5 to 6 mutuals, so it'll be first come first serve. there's a chance i will be able to get another batch going after i finish the first tho.

just a reminder, this is just for fun- like everything on this blog. so don't think too hard about it! might also just take me awhile since i have some priority art to get to as well!

here are the two times i did it a long time ago: X and X ... idk if i will do it in the same format, but maybe? i need to find the old file lol)

#reblogging this to get more eyes on it #you can be mutuals with @zetoichi too

[shadesofblades]

This has been on my mind for long but I’m gonna do this - please reblog this if you’re comfortable with pre-establishing relationships. I do not mean “met at the grocery store two weeks ago” or “have a common friend”, but rather stuff like “have been best friends since kindergrden”, “go for a beer every friday”, “friends with benefits”, “dated in highschool”, “hate each other’s guts because -insert reason-”  etc. Something meaningful (but not necessarily shippy) and I mean with muns/characters you have not interacted with, because I cannot believe I am the only one who prefers jumping right into the heart of the human interaction.

#ooc #this here is a staple! Our characters could have a pre established thing or not :D #i also enjoy “backstory” type rp where we rp part of their past etc

[shadesofblades]

京都　下鴨神社　🌸光琳の梅🌸

kyoto shimogamojinja 🌸plum blossoms🌸

#the black and blue// aoki usa #the murasaki princess// yumi ichikawa

[shadesofblades]

(hey yall! it's been a hot minute since i did this, but i wanted to try to do another "draw your mutuals in your style" thing. I did two when i first started this blog, but now that i've met a lot more people and made a lot more mutuals here, i have been intimidated by the idea of doing it again.

but im gonna! so if you're a mutual, send me which character of yours you'd like to see in my art style! I will probably be limiting it to 5 to 6 mutuals, so it'll be first come first serve. there's a chance i will be able to get another batch going after i finish the first tho.

just a reminder, this is just for fun- like everything on this blog. so don't think too hard about it! might also just take me awhile since i have some priority art to get to as well!

here are the two times i did it a long time ago: X and X ... idk if i will do it in the same format, but maybe? i need to find the old file lol)

#ooc #prompts #meme #if im mutuals with you on @zetoichi also pls hmu

[shadesofblades]

Character Info Tag: Aoki Usa

tagged by @briar-ffxiv <3 ty!

— B A S I C S

Name: Aoki Usa (Given: Dagne) Nicknames: Tuulai, うさーちゃん Age: Over 100 Nameday: 2nd Sun of the 5th Astral Moon Race: Veena Viera Gender: Cis-Male (He/Him) Orientation: Demi-Pan Profession: Thief, Smuggler, Hired Hand

— P H Y S I C A L - A S P E C T S

Hair: faded dark blue with graying hairs; coarse and thick, straight with a slight wave when longer Eyes: dark blue right eye, light blue-gray left eye Skin: pale cadet blue / gray Tattoos/scars: - several scars all over body - noticeable old scar around right ankle - massive tattoo covering his whole back

— F A M I L Y

Parents: Father (Deceased), Mother (Unknown) Grandparents: Unknown In-laws and Other: none Pets: none

— S K I L L S

Abilities: - master of stealth - incredibly dexterous and fast - healing capabilities and ninjitsu magic - amazing green thumb - highly intelligent Hobbies: - collecting and researching plants/flowers - learning new languages - communing with nature - poetry

— T R A I T S

Most Positive Traits: highly attentive, deathly loyal Most Negative Traits: extremely avoidant, horribly abrasive, cowardice

— L I K E S

Colors: grays, blues, greens, browns Smells: flowers, rain, earth, baked goods, chopped wood Textures: fur, wool, cotton, grass, raw wood Drinks: green, black, and floral teas, mountain water, fruit juice

— O T H E R - D E T A I L S

Smokes: no Drinks: only for ceremonies Drugs: no Mount Insurance: none Been Arrested: a few times throughout his life all over the star

#the black and blue// aoki usa #prompts

[shadesofblades]

HANAFUBUKI FESTIVAL 🌸

Saturday, April 27th @ 8:00pm EST | Balmung Yanxia, Plum Springs

Spring has swept over the Far East in the form of the blossoming cherry trees! Join us this year to sit beneath the cherry blossoms with friends, loved ones, and companions and indulge in all spring has to offer. We open the festival with a ceremony that leads into the open market, and the evening closes with a themed play. 🍵

Join the discord to sign-up and get involved! Currently we're seeking; vendors, fortunetellers, geisha, and taxi volunteers: https://discord.gg/YmBHZWxTtf

If you're unable to fly in Yanxia, we will have volunteer taxi services present in Namai awaiting your arrival! 🍡

THE CARRD FOR THE FESTIVAL IS COMING SOON!

Tags for visibility: @mooglemeet @ffxivrp @mateus-rp @balmungrp

#Going to this!!! #events #Hanafubuki

[shadesofblades]

The 2nd full moon of August 2023 l Rami Ammoun

#the moonlit shield// baatu ardakium

[shadesofblades]

Baatu's Tits ft. Ruhka @placesyoucallhome

#evening reblog :D